It’s a highly personal choice that must dovetail with your own business goals. I’ve seen companies spend from 0.5% of gross sales to 20% (!) of gross sales on their marketing budgets. The good news is that once you build a large enough customer base, it provides a larger repeat and referral base than a new company. Then you can reduce marketing expenses as a percentage of sales.

The bad news is that if your goal is to build a whole new business from the ground up, it will take considerable marketing investment up front to begin to develop your Return on Investment (ROI). You will need to spend more up front before you can begin trimming your marketing budget.

It is a ‘you get what you pay for’ business. More money = more carefully designed strategies and campaigns to bring in more clients. As an independent consultant it is common for my clients to want a quarter to a half of full-time work. And to a certain degree, the results are corresponding: you’d get a quarter to a half more customers. But it does take time to build the new client base.

Marketing results are not overnight. There is no magic silver bullet. Obtaining good results is more like long-term investing. Jump in and out of the market, you’ll get poor results. Remain steady in your strategy and your returns are dramatically improved. I do, however, try to steer my clients to the marketing tools that will get results sooner rather than later. We don’t have time to wait for the economy to turn around, do we?

A marketer’s job is simply to get you more customers. Of course, this should occur naturally by satisfied customers telling their friends about their terrific experience with you. But that doesn’t always happen, and it can be a very slow way to grow your business, waiting for folks to come to you.

A professional marketer’s job is to accelerate your business growth by reducing the amount of time, money, and available resources, in the most efficient way possible, to reach your target market, making it easy for them to buy from you. And the more efficient your marketing is, the more profits you make!

You may have noticed the name of my company: Cornucopia Creations. I am highly creative and have bountiful ideas that flow and flow.

But that’s not enough. I strive for realistic ideas. Skywriting is an idea, but it may not be practical for your business. Wrapping a public bus in an ad campaign may be a great idea – but also may not be within your budget.

Please note that it’s very important for you to participate with feedback on my ideas. Think of it as pairs’ tennis; we are on the same side of the net!

You should expect (and receive!) a fabulous experience, growing your brand, adding new clients to your business and learning how strategic marketing efforts can result in predictable actions by your customers. You should expect that I’ll answer your questions and concerns completely to your satisfaction.

You should expect me to map out strategies, tactics, and a scope of work so you know where we are in the process of completing any one project, and expect me to meet the deadlines we set together.